Ashima (Hastings' Dictionary)

A deity of the Hamathites, who introduced its worship into Samaria, when settled there by Sargon in place of the exiled Israelites. Many conjectures have been made as to its identity, but none has been generally acceptecl. lewisli tradition has repre- sented it as a hairless goat, or, again, as a cut to which the ram of the guilt-offering was sacri- ficed. Similarity of sound has led to comparison with the Pers. a.inian, Zend, azmano, heaven, with Eshmun, the eighth of the Plicen.

Kabirim, and with the Hab. Tashmetu, goddess of revelation, •Oci. Ux. (12th ed), followHnc Barth'i miKKe!^ conneilo (Kli/m. vtjut. 20) ot ips with Amii. jjAiMr 'duil,' would n-ndei )>.v ' du8t ' in all the possaKei above, by ' a.' only in Nu ID >". 166 ASHKELON ASHTAKOTH wife of Inebo. As Hamath was occupied by the Hittites, the name very possibly is of Hittite origin. J. MiLLAK. ASHKELON (p'^p.^K, in AV Eshkalon, Jos 13' ; Askelon, Jg l'», 1 S 6".

2 8 1*; Ashkelon, Jer 25-'» 47', Am 1', Zeph 2^, Zee 9° ; in Apoer. Ascalon both AV and RV). — One of the five chief cities of i^liil- istia, between Joi;pa andGaza, standing on low cliti's close to the shore, and without a harliour. It con- tinued to be under the rule of native chiefs or kings down to the Greek period. It is Hrst noticed monumentally in the Tel el-Amarna tablets, about B.C. 14SO-1450, the inhabitants being said to have oflered tribute to the Khabiri.

Letters in this collection from Yamir-Dagan and Dagan-taknla, chiefs of Ashkelon, subject to the Pharaoh, show the early worship of Dagon among its inhabitants. A. was reconquered in the 14th cent. B.C. by Uamses II. In the 7th cent. B.C. its king is noticed as a tributary of Esarhaddon, and of Assurbani- 5al, and was named Mitinti. It was captured by onathan, brother of Judas Maccabceus (1 Mac IQM 1160) Herod the Great was bom at A., and beautified it with new buildings (Jos. Wars, I. xxi.

11). In the 4th cent. A.D. it became a bishopric, and was conquered by the Moslems in the 7th cent. The Crusaders took it in 1153, and it submitted to Saladin in 1187. The latter demolished its walls in 1191, but they were rebuilt by Richard 'Lion-Heart' next year, and subsequently again destroyed by agreement with Saladin. At the present day the ruins of these later walls enclose only gardens supplied by wells and half-covered witn sand. The modem name is 'Askelan.

A curious bas-relief, representing Ashtoreth with two attendants, has been excavated in the ruins, and a gigantic statue (probably Roman) was found and destroyed by Lady Hester Stanhope. Until the 13th cent. A.D. A. was an important fortress in all ages, and a depot on the trade route to Egypt. See SWP vol. iii. sheet xvi. C. R. Conder.